Train Accident....

The recent train accident in Bihar was very unfortunate, train accident in India is "common" in comparison to other railway network in the world. I have specifically put "common" in quotes as the figure of merit on which comparisons are made is not fair. When a comparison of railway network across the world is made, the population, the number of trains etc, such factors needs to be taken into account. But this doesnt mean we can allow accidents. Adequate prevention needs to be taken for avoiding such tragic incidents. A train accident will imply a heavy monetary loss on the railway ministry and ofcourse the loss of lives can never be compensated.

But this accident is not an usual one, the cause of accident should have taken many people by suprise. The bridge was 150 years old and had given cracks recently it fell over the train because it cannot bear the train vibration. The railway ministry spends around 18000 crores on the safety of railways. But such tragic incidents leaves out a big question, are they doing enough for the safety of passengers. Always one can give this as a reason, "to manage such a huge network is very difficult and errors are bound to happen, therefore what is important is not the error but the percentage of error in comparison to the railway network India has".

As an engineer I need to agree to the statement leaving aside the emotional reaction. But here is where a difference between a world class management and an ordinary management lies. Always one can come out with figure of merit(FOM) for the performance of a ministry to satisfy ones ass. Given such a large railway network as in India and making it fool-proof for accidents and taking number of deaths due to accidents as a FOM is what Indian Railway ministry requires. Can they resolve such a huge challenge.......

West Bengal politics

I was reading the book by Arun Shourie on "Eminent historians- Their technology, the line, their fraud". In which he has given several examples with proof where the history taught to Indian students are distorted and conviniently projected for political gains.

Especially the history book in West Bengal is so much edited right from the 3rd grade leading to an impression that Communism ideology is the only saviour of the world. The book goes on to give numerous examples from various text history books how the history is distorted for political gains and not to hurt minority sentiments.

In my opinion history should never be distorted it is much bigger sin than corruption. The repercussions are huge.

Riots is Maharastra

The recent riots in Maharastra shows the pathetic situation of the law and order in one of the important states in India. Maharastra is no ordinary state and it is responsible for generating a siginificant amount of Indian GDP. Any such riots will deeply affect the Indian economy and will create apprehensions on the way the government is controlling the law and order.

The causes for the riots should be analysed in greater depth, in my opinion the background politics involved is of major concern. The riots could be to divert attention from some other important mishap to come. I stress this because statue desecreted in U.P cannot cause riots of this magnitude unless there is huge motive behind it.